[@Stern Algorithm]  it's definitely a form of irony, though I always get the various ones mixed up.  I think as a bright student he would catch her eye, certainly if he turned up for one of her less formal lectures.  I don't think she'd catch his nature immediately, but over time she might figure it out.  She is very reluctant to share, but it's possible she's let him in on snippets.  Most likely not the precise details, but enough.  I could see a mentor/student relationship here.

Alys herself teaches history, but she's known to know a lot about myalo and automata, so he might have been curious enough to crash a history lesson?  He might also be interested in her because her brother Christopher is a researcher in alternative automata that do not use myalo at all -- and known as something of a prodigy, if absentminded, eccentric, reclusive, and about as far from evil as you can get.  Alys is the best way to gain access to Chris.